Romance and the Fate of Equestria

So, as I may have mentioned before, I've been writing musical numbers to go with this story which have yet to see the light of day. In Part One, the songs were largely disposable, probably because they were written after many of the chapters had already been completed, but while writing Part Two, I found that the music was often coming to me long before the actual prose was. And as I go on, I find that a lot of the time it's difficult to convey the proper emotion of a chapter without the music! This chapter in particular gave me the most difficulty in that area thus far. One of these days, I'm gonna have to put the lyrics up somewhere… to all of the songs, not just this chapter's song.

Chapter Ninety-Eight

Rainbow lurked around in the empty hallways of Ponyville's grand wedding chapel. She crept down the hall slowly and calmly, touching her hooves to the wood floors as gently as she could to avoid making a sound. She slid along a wall and peered into a door.

Derpy was in the small room, all alone, in a wedding dress and gazing at herself in a mirror as she slowly placed a veil on her head. She smiled in the mirror, looking utterly blissful.

Rainbow stared for a while as Derpy continued to primp herself. Remaining unnoticed, Rainbow turned and started sneaking away.

She heard Derpy sigh. It was a long and heavy sigh, seeming to expel all the air she had in her lungs, ending with a light exclamation of "oh". Rainbow lifted her head and stared uncertainly at the door to the dressing room, pondering the meaning of what she had just heard.

She nodded decisively and turned around, marching purposefully into the room. "Hey, Derpy."

Derpy jumped in surprise, then broke out into a huge grin when she saw who her visitor was. "Oh! Rainbow Dash. Hi. What's up?"

"I… I just wanted to check up on you," Rainbow said apologetically. "How are you feelin'?"

"Oh… wonderful," Derpy said breathily. "Why shouldn't I be feeling wonderful? It's my wedding day."

Rainbow nodded. "No bridesmaids?"

"No," said Derpy. "Aw, I'm sorry. Did you want to be a bridesmaid?"

"No," Rainbow said hastily. "No, definitely not."

"Okay," Derpy said brightly. She looked Rainbow up and down with one eye. When it became apparent that Rainbow wasn't about to speak or move, Derpy frowned nervously. "Did you have something else to say to me?"

"Maybe I do," Rainbow admitted. "I… am not the kind of girl… who should be rudely barging in on a white-veil occasion, but you… damn it, I was just making fun of Fluttershy for doing this and now I'm doing it…"

Derpy tilted her head. "Quoting Swift Tailor lyrics, or interrupting weddings?"

"The lyrics," Rainbow clarified. "The stupid, stupid lyrics. I don't think Fluttershy has ever interrupted a wedding."

"I like her lyrics," Derpy objected. "You never have to wonder what the song is about."

Rainbow thought about that for a moment, then shrugged. "Well… maybe you're right. I can see the appeal in that. But, um… what were we talking about? Right… there is something that I think maybe needs to be said."

Derpy nodded. "Then say it, Rainbow Dash," she said solemnly, "or you'll spend the rest of your life wishing you had."

Rainbow scowled. "What's that supposed to mean? Sounds like you already know exactly what it is I'm going to say."

"Maybe," said Derpy. "I've got a hunch. I wanna hear it from you in case I'm wrong."

"I don't think you're wrong, Derpy," Rainbow said softly. "The truth is… I don't want you to marry Pierce."

Derpy nodded.

"I want you to be with me instead," Rainbow went on.

Derpy stared blankly.

"Because I'm in love with you," Rainbow finished, grinning sheepishly.

Derpy's expression didn't change.

"Derpy?" Rainbow said nervously.

Derpy rubbed her head with one hoof. "Wow," she remarked. "The first thing, I saw coming, but those other two came way outta left field…"

Rainbow sighed. "I'm sorry."

"No, it's fine, I just… I didn't know," Derpy said hastily. "I just thought you hated Pierce for some reason, I didn't think you actually… wow."

"I don't hate Pierce," Rainbow muttered. "I'd just rather you were with me."

"So… you really love me?" Derpy breathed.

"I do," Rainbow said gravely. "Very, very much."

"How long?" Derpy asked.

"How long what?"

"How long have you loved me?"

"Oh. Gee, uh, I don't know. You know, I guess I started feeling this way when I first found out you were engaged. But the more I think about it, the more I start to realize that I've loved you since… always."

"You've always loved me," Derpy marveled.

Rainbow nodded.

"Yeah, well…" Derpy giggled. "I've loved you… longer than always."

Rainbow stared at her, completely dumbfounded.

"Oh, Rainbow," Derpy said tenderly. She approached Rainbow and threw her arms around her neck, kissing her passionately.

Alarmed, Rainbow exclaimed and kissed her back, running one hoof through Derpy's hair and rubbing her back with the other. They kissed over and over and over, getting more inspired and their hearts pounding harder with each passing moment, until at last they had to part because they simply couldn't breathe anymore.

"Wow," Rainbow gasped as they disentangled their limbs from each other's bodies. She ran her eyes over Derpy's entire body before focusing on her broadly grinning face. "You sure are a beautiful bride," she whispered.

Derpy giggled again. "Everypony is beautiful as a bride, silly."

Rainbow stared at the floor and scratched anxiously at the wood with a hoof. "Damn it, Derpy, what the hell am I doing? It's your wedding day…"

Derpy inhaled deeply and started pulling off her dress. "No it…" she began, before finding she couldn't get it over her head. "Hold on. No it…" She tugged again. "Help me, I'm stuck."

"Oh!" Rainbow helped her pull the rest of the dress over her head. Derpy wadded it up and tossed it to the side.

"Um… sorry about that," Derpy said breezily. "Give me the line again."

"The line?" Rainbow said uncertainly. "Um… you mean 'it's your wedding day'?"

"Yeah, that one," said Derpy, smiling. She quickly put on a solemn expression. "No it isn't. Not anymore."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

In the wedding chapel itself, daylight filtered through the windows, casting a heavenly glow over the ponies filling the rows of seats, while Pierce stood alone at the end of the aisle, wearing a tuxedo but with his every absurd facial piercing still in place.

The huge double-doors at the back of the chapel opened, and there was a shuffling sound as every head turned. There was a murmur of confusion when they saw Derpy, not wearing her wedding dress, hovering in place.

"Excuse me!" she called out. "Excuse me, everypony. I'm really sorry about this. This wedding… may have just been a huge waste of everypony's time, and I feel terrible. Pierce…"

He frowned, raising one studded eyebrow.

"Pierce, I love you," Derpy said sadly, slowly flying down the aisle. "But I can't marry you, and I can't be with you anymore, because… because I'm in love with Rainbow Dash. And she feels the same way." She looked around, realizing that Rainbow wasn't with her. She spotted her lurking in the hallway from which they had come. "Rainbow, get out here. Please. I need you by my side for this."

Rainbow joined her, catching up to her as she was halfway down the aisle, in the very center of the grand room. Derpy embraced her, and they hovered there together.

"I'm truly sorry," Derpy called to Pierce. "Rainbow and I are going to be together now. That's the way it has to be." She looked deeply into Rainbow's eyes, or as much as she could with one eye drifting off somewhere else. "Come on, honey," she said softly.

Rainbow nodded, holding the eye contact with absolute surety. "Yeah."

They both started flying out of the chapel, still holding onto each other tightly, when Pierce called, "Derpy! Derpy, wait!"

Rainbow flinched as she and Derpy turned around. Pierce was trotting toward them, the expression in his permanently-closed eyes unreadable. His extra-sharp horn lit up with silvery-blue magic, and he produced two small slips of paper from the inside pocket of his tux.

"These are the train tickets? To our honeymoon?" he said in his odd cadences. "You two should take them. First class, big resort. You might as well."

Derpy clamped her hooves over her mouth in shock. "Oh, Pierce…" she said with wonder. "Thank you! That's so, so nice of you…" She gently took the tickets from him.

"Yeah," Rainbow agreed shakily. "Thank you so much…"

Pierce turned away bitterly. "While you're gone, I'm gonna pack up all my stuff and leave Ponyville so I don't have to, like, look at you anymore?"

"Oh…" Rainbow gasped.

"Goodbye, Derpy," he muttered. He marched away, shoving his way out the chapel's back door.

"Wow," Rainbow said under her breath. "That was kind of a buzz-kill." She leaned toward Derpy and whispered in her ear. "Maybe… maybe we shouldn't do this."

Derpy stared at her wildly. "You're leaving me?" she mouthed.

"Well, no, but… somepony's getting hurt here, I can't—"

"Rainbow, I can't go back now," Derpy pleaded in a pained whisper. "Not after what I've already said, to him and to everypony here. I can never turn back from that. I'm really scared, and I can't do this by myself. Whatever's going to come next, I can't face it without you, Rainbow. Please…"

Rainbow hung her head. "Okay… you're right, I'm sorry, I'm the one who put you up to this… let's do it together then. You and me… forever."

Derpy sniffled and hugged her. "If it were anypony but you, I wouldn't be sure about the forever thing… but I am."

Rainbow looked around at the crowd as she hugged Derpy. All of the wedding guests were murmuring to each other, clearly trying to figure out the whispered conversation that had just transpired between the two of them. Rainbow spotted her five friends sitting together near the front row, all of them looking directly at her in silence, their expressions inscrutable.

Derpy slipped out of the hug and held up the tickets, reading them with one eye and smiling up at Rainbow with the other. "Let's go," she whispered. She flew out of the chapel. Rainbow followed slowly, then hesitated at the huge doors and turned toward the crowd.

"LATER, LOSERS!" she bellowed, before darting after Derpy.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

That night, a train chugged away from Ponyville, cutting through the falling snow and the wintry night air. Rainbow and Derpy walked leisurely down the center of a car, pulling their luggage along.

"So," Rainbow mused. "If we've always felt this way about each other, why did nothing happen between us until now?"

"I could never have gone to you and told you how I felt," Derpy muttered. "I'm not cool enough to be with you."

"Derpy, you don't have to be cool to…" Rainbow began, her voice trailing off. She sighed. "Well, maybe you were right… before. But I've softened up a bit since I became an Element of Harmony. All the friendship lessons I've learned… I guess that's what it took for me to become somepony who can love a pony for who they are, not the way others perceive them." She looked over Derpy and sighed. "It was almost too late."

Derpy leaned in and gave Rainbow a kiss. "It wasn't too late at all," she said, nuzzling her. "It happened right now, so… right now is perfect."

They continued walking down the train car. "I'm happy," Derpy said conversationally.

Rainbow let out a sob at that. "I am so very, very happy," she agreed in a choked-up voice.

Derpy pouted. "Then why are you so teary, honey-pie?"

"Oh, I know, I'm a mess," Rainbow muttered. "I've been crying a lot lately, that's not like me. Guess I just had to let some junk out. But I think everything will be better from now on."

Derpy smiled and pulled open the sliding door of a train compartment. "Here we are… our first-class compartment. I've never stayed in one of these."

"You haven't?" Rainbow said with interest as they got into the compartment and stowed their luggage underneath the big white bed that took up most of the small space.

"Well… no," Derpy said sadly. "I could never afford one. For the wedding and the honeymoon, I put in everything I have, since Pierce… never had anything at all. Now I don't have anything either."

"Derpy, baby, don't even worry about that," Rainbow said soothingly. "Don't you spend one minute worrying about your finances, sweetheart. I have enough for both of us."

"Oh, Rainbow, you don't have to take care of me," Derpy peeped. "Please don't…"

Rainbow gently forced Derpy onto the bed and crawled on top of her, kissing her deeply. "I've finally got you in my arms," she whispered. "I'd like to see you try and stop me from taking care of you."

Derpy snuggled up tightly to Rainbow, and they kissed some more, gently, their lips barely touching each time.

"I love you," said Rainbow, tingling with the pleasure of that statement actually being heard.

"I love you too, Rainbow Dash," Derpy whispered. "Thank you for being mine."

Their kisses became more heated and longing as the train rumbled off into the night.